I left beautiful K\u00e4rnten on Thursday arriving in Barcelona in the evening. We drove into the night to Guardiola de Bergueda in North Catalonia. Friday was a work day from our Air BnB and Saturday was the first stage of the Orbea Cadi Challenge. Cadi being a brand of butter and also the mountain range here.<\/p>\n
<\/strong><\/p>\n Stage 1<\/strong><\/p>\n The butter challenge didn\u2019t go as smoothly as I hoped on day one. I lined up at the start line with approximately 200 other cyclists, most of them wearing the nice golden cycling jersey that we\u2019d got in our race packs. The jersey proclaimed finisher on the back, which seemed all very positive but perhaps slightly pre-emptive. The challenge is a \u201cRTF\u201d. It\u2019s not timed or ranked as it seems Spanish laws don\u2019t allow that without strict traffic management, including closing roads. Clearly the Austrians are a little more laid back. I started near the front, all the same, and we rolled out over the start line. I clicked through the gears and went to change into my big chain ring. Oh, oh, nothing happened. Something was blocking it. I pulled over to take a quick look and to my dismay found that the cable had been almost entirely severed. It must have got damaged during the flight to Barcelona. I\u2019d not been for a ride since landing and had only given it a quick check to see whether everything look to be ok.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n I messaged Ari saying I couldn\u2019t ride the race. As I was doing that, what looked like a team car pulled up in front of me loaded with bikes on the roof. A guy jumped out and started talking with me in Spanish. I say with but at is a more accurate word, as I didn\u2019t understand a thing. I said \u201cEnglish only\u201d and pointed at my shifter. A picture was worth enough words to convey what was happening. He kept talking in Spanish (in the hope that I was a fast learner), measured the bike quickly then he grabbed one of the bikes from the roof of the vehicle and lifted it down for me. I was surprised. He seemed to be offering me a bike! I spotted Ari in the distance walking back slowly to the apartment and waved at her frantically. She came running over and I asked her if she could translate. With Ari, the babelfish in my ear, it became clear that he was indeed offering me a bike and was going to take mine and fix it. I swapped over bike bottles and grabbed my Edge 530. Time was ticking by and all the riders were well gone but the first 5km was supposed to be neutralised with the first of many climbs following. The mechanic reasoned that I\u2019d be able to catch them up on the climb so I set off on my new bike, thanking him profusely in as many languages as I knew how.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n I headed down the main road, taking the first left up into the hills. It was very scenic, a small road with no traffic but also no riders in front of me. At some point the mechanic drove past. I kept going and was happy to see flashing light in the distance, the ambulance and a police car following the back of the race. The cars let me pass and I saw the mechanic\u2019s car. He wound down his window as I passed and we both communicated in the universal language of the thumbs. The direction being up.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The course took us up and down windy little roads. I passed many people as I had started at the back of the field. At some point two guys who\u2019d been fixing a puncture road past me and I jumped on their wheels. I rode with them for a large portion of the race managing to keep up on the up-hills with not much room to spare. We came to a long 1000 m climb. One of the guys dropped back and I rode on ahead also leaving the other guy behind. At the drinks station, I had some success communicating in English before I continued. The road climbed up to the highest point of the course where it was starting to feel slightly cool. The road then dived back down into the valley over many km and it was back to the stifling heat. Just 20 km left.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n I crossed the finish line and sat in the shade. Ari and Ana\u00efs had got lost during their hike and I went and found them recovering at a restaurant nearby. We drove back to the start to our Air BnB in the evening and went for a bit of a hobble.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n